Irresponsible allegations suggest an equivalence between Israel and Hamas and encourage and legitimize terrorism.

Grinning Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s V for Victory sign beside the rubble that was his house reminded me of Saddam Hussein’s spokesman Muhammad al-Sahhaf’s wild claims that the Americans were on the verge of surrender as their tanks poured into Baghdad during the shock and awe of 2003.

But lies, deception and self-delusion are cornerstones of Hamas’s way of war, so grotesque celebrations of victory among the ashes of their most crushing defeat in 27 years came as no surprise.

Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas now admits that Hamas is to blame for the death, desolation and destruction in Gaza.

An unprovoked war of aggression that has deliberately crushed their own people.

Those who give Hamas’s mirage of triumph even an iota of credence are simply playing into its hands, helping to deceive the desperate people of Gaza and contributing to the terrorist group’s resurgence.

Hamas’s military resurgence is of course possible. They have been defeated but not annihilated. Understandably, many Israelis believe the IDF should have been unleashed to complete the destruction of Hamas.

Would that have been possible? In military terms, yes. Perhaps over a lengthy war of attrition, at Continue reading →

The ayatollahs have no compunction supporting both sides in conflicts if it’s in their interest

In an article this week on the dangers to the UK of Islamist extremism, David Cameron suggested that Britain could work with Iran to combat the Islamic State’s offensive against Iraq. This is a dangerous and misguided proposal. Continue reading →

With few exceptions, reporters, commentators, and analysts unquestioningly accept the casualty statistics given by Gaza’s Hamas-controlled medical authorities, who ascribe all deaths to the IDF. We have never seen so much as a glimpse of killed or wounded fighters.

Palestinian rockets are like the Nazi V1s. Civilian casualties were inevitable then and now

‘The Israelis are doing it all wrong. The RAF didn’t fly off to bomb Belfast in the troubles.”

These words from a respected media commentator embody the extraordinary lack of understanding by so many in this country who think the Israelis’ fight with Hamas is like ours with the IRA and can be dealt with in the same way. Continue reading →

The British government should deny its enemies the opportunities for exploitation presented by the International Criminal Court and withdraw now from the process. Any other course would represent an unprecedented and historic betrayal.

Today the United Kingdom sits alongside Libya, Darfur and Sudan as the International Criminal Court [ICC] launches an investigation into alleged war crimes by the British Army in Iraq. Continue reading →

During my conduct-after-capture training we were instructed not to draw attention to ourselves but to melt into the background, to be the grey men. No one told that to the “Old Contemptibles” or to the men of Kitchener’s Army. But to a man they were the product of a
society that inculcated the virtues of pluck, patriotism and duty. And to their eternal glory, they did resist when they fell into German hands. Every step of the way.

COLONEL RICHARD KEMP says Sergeant Blackman should be given special pleading when he is sentenced

The Chief of the Defence Staff says ‘murder is murder’ and there must be no special pleading on behalf of British Marine Sergeant Alexander Blackman when he is sentenced today for murdering an injured insurgent in Afghanistan.

But General Sir Nicholas Houghton could not be more wrong. I believe it is imperative there should be special pleading for a fighting man our government sent into battle with orders to forfeit his life if called upon to do so.

Some 47 per cent of the British public understand this, according to opinion polls, and want leniency to be shown. Continue reading →

446 British lives were lost not for Afghanistan’s reconstruction but to kill violent Islamic extremists

As our final year of combat engagement approaches, the experts and activists are eager to dismiss as pointless the 446 British military deaths in Afghanistan. This perspective arises from a combination of delusional anti-war dogma, the innate ambiguity of unconventional
warfare and the failure of successive governments to explain the reality of the Afghanistan conflict. Continue reading →

Despite the self-righteous pomposity of Edward Snowden, who claims from his FSB-protected Moscow hideout that he doesn’t want to live in a society that places its citizens under surveillance, his revelations about the secret state have told us little.

GCHQ exists precisely to do what Snowden has ‘uncovered’. Who is genuinely surprised that, in its efforts to protect this country, GCHQ is monitoring all possible terrorist means of communication? Who wouldn’t be outraged if it were it not? Continue reading →